Well we have been super busy, hence not much time to write blogs! We have been busy with tours, new dogs, and new horses too! 

We are excited about our new tour.Julia took me exploring out around the hills behind her farm (where we run our beach rides) and we found some fantastic trails that she used to ride on. Imagine wonderful ocean views, shaded trails, wildlife, more mango trees than you can shake a stick at, hence the name....The Mango Trails!  This is a great tour and i just know people are going to love it. It is 2.5 hours, but can be extended into a longer tour if you want to add a jaunt up the beach too. (see below for photos)

We also welcomed two new horses Milly and Sonta. They are two mares that came to us in rather a poor condition,  but they have been enjoying the last two months resting in the fields, eating their heads off and generally recuperating. The good news is they are gaining lots of weight and really starting to enjoy there lives. Milly is going to become partners with our friend and fellow rider Jamaica, it is great and i think they will make a great partnership. Sonta, who only has one ear, is going to be a wonderful addition to our team of beautiful tour horses. I took her for the first time to the beach last week and she loved it. It was great to see her ears pricked up as she watched the waves crashing in, a new experience for her and she behaved perfectly.

We also welcomed a new rescue dog this week (photos next week!) she is just with us for about a month as she needed to be somewhere safe to receive medical treatment. She has an owner, but they are not very able to take of giving her daily meds, so it has not yet been decided if she will go back (of course if they want her back she will go back) if not she will stay with us until we can find her a forever home.

We were hugely honoured to find out last week that we are now the No 1 voted tour on Trip Advisor for not only Costa Rica, but also the whole of Central America!!!  When we started 7 years ago with 3 horses and a rusty old sign, we never in our wildest dreams thought this was possible. A huge thanks to our whole team who put their heart and soul into making Discovery Horse Tours what it is today. We are massively proud that we have always stuck to our principles of never making the horses over work, putting their needs ahead of us and having fat and happy horses that are trained naturally, and without metal in their mouths. We only use a specially made halter on our horses, that when the rider has a loose rein the halter is loose around their heads making sure they are as comfortable as possible.

We also love the fact that we are able to daily share our passion of proving that working horses do not need to be downtrodden or treated like machines. We are constantly working on our own horsemanship to ensure that through our work we can try and make a tiny difference in making the world a better place for horses.

Try and join us on Facebook (Discovery Horse Tours Costa Rica) as we have lots of photos and videos of all the animals.

Don't forget the Amy Bowers clinic in December. See the website for more details.

Keep it natural!

Andrea and Chris

Finally i have 5 minutes to write and let you all know what we have been up to. It has been a fantastic few weeks. We have just finished our first Parelli in Paradise vacation with the wonderful David Lichman, he is Parelli's leading 5 star instructor. We shared our week with some amazing people who all enjoyed there time here in Costa Rica. David as always was amazing, and we learnt so much. For two days we were just with David doing an intensive clinic and then rest of the time we rode on the beach, in the mountains, to the waterfalls and through the rain forest.......its a hard job......but well you know!!! By the way, if you want to join this next year, book early, it is a trip of a lifetime.

I also got to achieve ANOTHER life long dream, i am ticking them off this year, and i rode my wonderful mare Coco on the beach bareback and without a saddle. If you copy and paste this link it will take you to where you can see the video of my galloping down the beach, it was WAY too much fun. You may have to scroll down a bit to get to it, here you can also see lots of photos from the Parelli in Paradise week.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002131141124

Dry season is here in full force and the sun is shining down every day. The ocean though has been strangely calm, but also one to make lemonade when given lemons, we have taken advantage and Julia took a lucky client into the ocean with the horses bareback. The horses love it and it is such fun to do. Only do this if you have a horse that is calm!! Ours are very used to this and love it.I couldn't have been prouder of our horses during the Parelli in Paradise event, they behaved so well and really enjoyed themselves too. I love each and every one of them.We have some friends arriving later today, who like us believe in not using metal in horses mouths, so it will be great to have some time to exchange ideas and play with some horses together. I love how like minded people gravitate together. The universe is a wonderful provider!Chris just celebrated his birthday (45.....haahummm) and we finally got a couple of days away with no animals and no irresponsibility, don't get me wrong i LOVE my life and wouldn't change it for the world, but it was bliss!! We stayed at a friends house that is perch on the cliffside overlooking a little private beach. It was heaven, we slept, snorkelled, swam, watched the stars, laughed and relaxed....pura vida indeed.Well this week, we are back in the mountains testing out new trails. Our best of both worlds trail that we currently use is getting a little sun baked, so we are back tracking and finding a more shaded trail. The Jungle Spa ride is virtually all shade, thats the beauty of the rainforest. So hopefully by the end of the week we will have the same for the best of both worlds. Good news on the dogs front, Henry (the lab cross) he got a forever home this week, and we are so happy for him. His new best friend is a 3 year old girl who thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread. He also gets to hang out with another dog we rescued a few years back. A happy ending for Henry. Now we just need to find a home for Ben and we are doing good.Well i am off into the sunshine to play with the horses. Have a great weekend everyone and remember if you don't love what you do.....CHANGE IT!! Life is short.  

Hope to see you here in Paradise. Andrea x 
www.horseridecostarica.com

Christmas and New Year have been so much fun, we are so lucky with the people we get on the tours, we have so many new friends this year all ready. We welcomed two new horses onto the yard this month, their names are Lucas and Rio, they belong to a friend of ours, but they are coming to stay with us for a while. Lucas is such a gentle soul, he is so sweet with eyes you can lose yourself in, Rio is a mover and shaker and Nancy and Julia the guides are loving riding him. Lucas even carried a wonderfully sparky 80 year old last week who was sampling all the excitement Costa Rica has to offer, white water rafting and zip lining, i hope i am like that when i get there. I am sure i will still be riding!

Next week David Lichman (Parelli 5 star instructor) arrives for the first proper Parelli in Paradise week, we are beyond excited. We have people coming from Norway, UK, Canada and the USA, it is going to be an epic week of learning, sharing and laughter. 

Archie is doing really well as we continue our Parelli journey together, he is such a clever boy and doing all sorts of cool things now, but most of all he is turning into a great partner for me. I love him so much, nearly as much as my husband ;)

Talking of Archie i finally started my book about my adventures with Archie, it has been great fun to write and has reminded me of how far we have come. i will let you know when i get it published!!!!! Thats going on my dream board for this year thats for sure.

If anyone is interested in parelli Linda Parelli is going on tour around the US this year, you can find details of the tour stops on www.parelli.com

The rain has been so late this year so the farm and jungle is still incredibly green, it is so beautiful. Also the monkeys have been crazy active, i think they are enjoying the slightly cooler weather we are having so far. I know i certainly am.

We also have a couple of new additions to our rides one of them being a wonderful progressive ride. You start with a friend of ours Elizabeth up at Barking Horse Farm, from there you ride for 7 days through the mountains, staying with local families along the way, and end at the coast. From here you ride with us along the coast line and into the rain forest. It is a wonderful, challenging and spectacular ride. 


This year is going to be a great year here at Discovery Horse Tours, we have a wonderful team of horses and staff all waiting to show you the wonders of Costa Rica. To find out more check out our website on www.horseridecostarica.com

Well the rains have gone and now the sun is shining. We have been busy with people coming for day tours and for extended stays for Parelli in Paradise. It has been so much fun showing people the fun it is to work with horses naturally. All the groups fell in love with the horses we assigned them and are all coming back next year!

I have had some amazing animal sightings this week. The best for me was a lone wild pig that come running across the hay field. The grass is so long he had to keep jumping up in the air to see where he was going. He was a good size, and very focused on getting as far away from us as possible, as fast as possible. Also Chris saw a couple of deer whilst he was out maintaining trails. The deer in the forest are very timid, so they took off as soon as they saw him, but he said they were beautiful. Monkeys of course, we see them several times a week, and they continue to entertain us with their stick throwing! They are very interested in us when we ride by, we have shared the same area for about 2 years now so they know we are no threat to them. We never feed the animals either, this is a very bad practise and not at all good for the animals. I would much rather observe them acting naturally then have them trying to steal food from my bag!

Thanks giving (even though we are British!) was a fun week out here, lots of families from the USA were here to celebrate and we loved showing them our beautiful reserve, many commented on being thankful for the nature they were seeing. I spent a great day riding through the mountains and on the beach with some great people, this was on the new "Best of Both Worlds ride" it is about 4 hours and wonderful. Very thankful!!

The horses are looking amazing (as always), we had a lot less rain this year which was good. Their hooves didn't get too soft, and Chris has been doing an amazing job at always keeping them trimmed and as nature intended!! You won't find any metal anywhere near our horses, in their mouths OR on their feet.

We have had lots of rescue dogs come through here in the last few weeks, and we are now up to 8 dogs, but luckily 2 got rehomed last week. There spots were soon taken though. This is always sad, but at least now they will have a chance of a forever home. Remember, these dogs can go to the USA!!!! 

If you are making your way down to Costa Rica this Christmas or New Year, be sure to look us up www.horseridecostarica.com! We are still voted the number 1 tour in Jaco on Trip Advisor!! Yay. Have a wonderful Christmas and an even better New Year. Keep it natural!

I LOVE rainy season. It's funny, when we moved here from the UK, we dreaded the rainy season, we hadn't left Cornwall for rain after all! But now we are here and have such wonderful sunshine most of the year, it is a nice change to have a drop in temperature. What i love most about rainy season is the green and the lushness of the farm!! It is always green here, but wow right now it is hard to describe how intense the greens are. It might be hard to get laundry done when it is raining so much, but i can lose a good half an hour just watching the forest.

We have been moving horses around to make sure they are all under cover (if they want to be, it is always better to give them a choice). Julia our guide has been busy over at the El Caballo Azul ranch where we have our horses for the beach rides, it gets very boggy over there, but after a bit of horse shuffling, everyone has access to a roof. Chris has his work cut out with their hooves, everything grows so fast at this time of the year, including the horses feet, also they can get a bit soft, so it is a lot of work to keep them looking good. Chris is also up to his ears in keeping trails open from over growing jungle, trees coming down and the odd stray cow!!! It is all sent to keep him on his toes!!!

My friend Leo and I got very lucky yesterday and had a wonderful rain free ride as we took Casper and Archie back from their end of summer grazing near my house to the main farm. The rivers were high, but it was fun and we actually stayed dry. We were lucky enough to see some amazing birds that were coming out of hiding during the hour or two of sunshine.

The monkeys have been missing in action in the last few weeks, i think they have found a nice dry spot somewhere deeper in the forest, i look forward to seeing them foraging in the next few weeks. I wonder how they like the rain? I would imagine not very much.

Plans are coming on for Parelli in Paradise next year and we hope to host Amy Bowers and her husband Nate. Amy is Pat Parelli's niece and has learned directly from him, so we look forward to learning from her first hand experience. We are still hoping to have Glenn Stewart here in December also. So although it is raining, we are still busy making plans for the next season. With that is mind we are happy to announce that we will be running walking tours starting in December. Many people who maybe don't like horses (strange people!! haha) or have allergies, but still want to experience the tour and the famous mud bath will be able to do so soon. We are excited to show more people our little piece of paradise.

At this time of year we have normally headed back to the UK, but this year we are staying put and experiencing the rainest month of the year first hand! Kayaking anyone..............

I have never seen the rain forest looking so green and vibrant, but with that comes rain! We have had a bunch of it this week, but luckily for us the mornings have been clear and sunny, so we have been cramming in our rides and play sessions before lunch. There is nothing like a green season siesta after lunch. 

We saw deer this week, which is quite a rare spot, boy they can move fast, they crossed over in front of the ride and up into the forest, so beautiful. Toucans are making appearances on mass too, we had the pleasure of watching 5 romp around the trees at the waterfall last week. They never fail to impress me!

Our two new horses are settling in well. Lucas and Rio, they have been eating their heads off, making friends, gaining weight and we are loving having them. Rio loves to lead the pack on the rides and is making a great guide horse, Lucas is more mellow and clients are going to love him on the trails.

Good news for us this week as we sold our car and got a new more reliable one! Cars get a pretty hard time out here in Costa Rica so we have got something with a nice straight forward engine and old fashioned suspension!

Coco is starting to excel in Parelli, she loves it and could for sure go to the higher levels. Whoever gets her for the David Lichman clinic in January is going to be very happy. She is now riding bridleless and bareback, putting her front feet on anything and everything and just wants to play with anything in her path. Wonderful. So glad i didn´t turn my back on her when i went to see her in the field. The day we looked at her with a view to buying her, she bit me and kicked me.....not a good start. We soon realised she had been taken from her Mum too young, she is now a happy camper!

We have reached over 80 reviews on Trip Advisor now! All are 5 star, we are very happy. Thanks to everyone that came, loved it and reviewed, it makes a big difference. Number 1 tour in Jaco.......woo hoo.

Ben the rescue dog is still making great progress, but he needs more time before going up for adoption. We are having to work on his training and boundries as he is very energetic and loves to mouth your hand, we need to get that sorted before he gets adopted. He is a sweet heart though.

We had a great ride with some experienced riders on the beach last week, you can see the photo below. One of the girls was on much deserved R and R from her Helicopter Army unit based in Honduras. She was very cool and flew Helicopters!! Girl Power.


Today i get to play Parelli games with the horses all morning, i have all sorts o fthings planned, but of course it depend on how the horse feels when we get going, it is all about the horses, some will play, some will just want to cruise around and munch the grass, others like Coco and Archie will be keen to learn new things......can´t wait! I really love my life!

What a great week, we really really love our life! Our new helper started this week and he feels like he has been with us forever, he is wonderful, the horses love him, the dogs love him and he just "gets it" when it comes to treating the animals with respect and gentle hands. Happy Happy Happy. His name is Douglas.

The tours have been amazing this week and our wildlife spotting has been wonderful, we had guests who saw a Jaguarandi (medium size wildcat) this is a rare spot so they were very happy, we had another group see Montazuma Orpendolas, which is a rare flock or birds that look a bit like toucans but without the big beak, also yesterday the group were very lucky with a family of white faced monkeys crossing the fence lines, they were at about head height and they could almost touch them.

Some of the gals came out this week for a ride to keep the horses fresh, we took them along a trail they don´t normally ride on, got off and let them have a 20 minute picnic on the grass! Happy horses.

I have been lucky enough to spend time with a level 4 Parelli student this week and she has been coaching me with my horse Archie. WOW, it is great, and we made leaps and bounds. I would love one day for the people that i got him, from who thought that whips, tying his legs together and terrifying him would make him learn, could see what he is doing now, he is so enthusiastic. I have posted a link to a video of him and i this week, it is a bit long, but fun all the same. I love that he will run to me without a leading rein on and skid to a stop with a look of "Great, whats next!" LOVE PARELLI!!

We are excited to be getting two new loan horses this week, they have passed their blood tests and i can´t wait to get them and get to know them better. They too will start with some Parelli training once they settle in and will make great additions to the Parelli in Paradise program. Moro, one of my longest standing tour horses may be going to up the wonderful Barking Horse Farm in Puriscal for a change of pace. He is so wonderful and we will miss him dreadfully, but i feel it is time for him to do something different, as he seems a little bored with life. Everyone needs a change sometimes! I know he will be very well looked after up there and if he is not happy he can always come back.

Ben the rescue dog continues to make great progress this week, he is turning SO ginger! He looks like he will have white bits on him too. Training him is hard as he is very energetic and doesn't respect your space very much, but you have to be so careful when you ask him not to do it, as his confidence is so fragile. We are getting there though and he will make a great dog for a forever family very soon. Casey the other rescue is now ready for a home and is a great guard dog, but also very friendly, so if anyone is looking for a great dog, be sure to call us 26437151 or 88387550.

Nothing beats galloping down the beach, i love it. I have just got back from a really fun ride with my friend, the horses loved it as much as us too, they love to blow out the cobwebs.

The new tour has opening "The best of both worlds" and everyone that has tried it loved it. We head up first into the mountains and go hunting for the groups of monkeys that make it their home, we even saw deer this week which was wonderful. After enjoying the forest we head down onto the beach and enjoy the vast emptiness that surrounds us on the Pacific coast. If you are not a rider, don´t worry we won´t be taking you to top speed, but if you can ride, you will love the feel of the wind in your hair as you let your horse stretch his legs. Such fun to be had!!

It has been playtime a bit this week and i have linked below to a video of me playing with Miss Coco, it was our first ride with out a saddle or a bridle, she is such a diva and loves to show off. We are hoping for great Parelli things from this girl.

Ben the rescue dog is doing wonderfully. We had several people sponser him now, so his future is looking bright. You can see him running around under me in the video. He will soon be looking for a home, and can go to the US so if anyone is keen for a really great dog who had a terrible start in life, let us know!!

We excited to say that Parelli in Paradise in January has now sold out (actually there may be one place left) we have a great group of people who are as excited as we are. I will of course post pictures when the time comes. If you are keen to come down for a riding vacation and Parelli in Paradise, drop us a line as we have another wonderful teacher lined up (to be confirmed)

We have been seeing lots of monkeys on the tour this week and so many babies, it is wonderful when they have new family members. Lots of exciting work is going on at the farm too, Jose who owns La Quina is building an environmental grass drier!! Sounds complicated doesn't it. There is a national shortage of hay here in Costa Rica even though we are surrounded by an excess of grass, it is hard to dry it when you get rain at night. So Jose, who studied at the Earth University, has come up with a way to cut, bring in, rack and turn grass to make hay under a massive structure he has built with the sustainable wood here on the farm. I will post photos when it is ready, it is very cool and only uses solar energy. Win win.

Life as always continues to be exciting and we are loving our life here in Costa Rica.

Below is the link to the video we did this week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dko7lp0txC8

The photos below are of some of the wonderful wildlife around us. 

This has been an exciting week! We are about to open our new ride. So many people have been asking for a combination of beach and mountain so we are going to start doing this again, so you can get the best of both worlds. We used to do this ride many a few years ago and are going to open it again, it is lots of fun with stunning views and lots of monkeys! Julia and I were checking it out the other day and saw all sorts of great things. 

We had some very strange weather this week and i got a few good soakings on the tours, i can´t believe i felt cold ( Chris is pointing out it was still 79, i was just wet!!), but we are back to blue sky and sunshine again. Ahh the Pura Vida.

I have been focusing a lot on my personal horse time this week in between tours and LOVING IT! Archie and i are building a very strong relationship, it is amazing how much this has taught me about all forms of communication in my life and not just with horses. I have posted a link to a video of us playing without ropes yesterday. We still have a long way to go, but i am loving the learning. He actually started to play to, you can see him tossing his head and prancing around! Goof ball that he is!

Our David Lichman clinic for Parelli in Paradise is almost full, I am really looking forward to having some private lessons whilst he is here, i will post our progress. This man is a miracle worker with horses. If you are interested in joining us, be sure to get in contact. www.horseridecostarica.com

Chris was called out to help a horse with severe laminitis (big problem in the feet) yesterday and is hoping he will be able to help him over the coming weeks. He is in a bad way, but hopefully if the owner follows his guidelines he can have the horse back up and comfortable again. Fingers crossed. The type of hoof work that Chris does can be seen on www.hoofrehab.com. We are hoping that next year Chris will be able to start his training to become an Equine Podiatrist (hoof man!!)

We had a new rescue dog in three days ago, his name is Snoopy and he only has three legs. He is a part Aussie healer and so sweet, but does love to herd us. We are hoping for a really good home for him, i have posted a video link of the horses playing in the lagoon and you can see him there. 

Well i am off to play with the horses. Enjoy your day where ever you are.